The word
易, yì, is the character in the name of the Yijing, the Classic of Changes. It means to change, to transform, to exchange, and also easy or simple.
Where the character comes from isn't known for sure. An ancient dictionary explains it as a drawing of a lizard, the animal that changes color; another traditional account sees the sun above the moon. There are more modern theories, and none is certain.
The three senses
A Han dynasty commentator, Zheng Xuan, passed on an idea that became classic: the word holds three senses at once.
- The simple (易簡): the book rests on something very simple, a solid line and a broken one.
- Change (變易): everything keeps transforming, like lines turning from yin to yang.
- The unchanging (不易): beneath change there's an order that stays, the way change happens.
This third sense isn't the same as the constancy (貞) of the judgments: it's about the laws of change, not a person's steadiness.
In a reading
Each consultation is a small sample of all three: a simple method, a moving line that shows where your situation is heading, and a text that reminds you of what doesn't change, such as how to act well. The I Ching doesn't tell you what will happen; it helps you see how what's already happening is changing.